Last year the Bowie State women’s basketball team ran through star point guard Destiny Ryles, who notched 50 points over two games, playing all but two minutes of Bowie State’s tournament run.

Ryles wowed the Baltimore crowd — her hometown crowd — but Bowie State’s lineup simply lacked the depth to make a sustained run through the bracket. Only seven players touched the court in the Bulldogs’ quarterfinal defeat, with one of them playing only five minutes.

This year’s team couldn’t be more different.

Bowie State, which enters the 2026 tournament as the top seed out of the Northern Division, features 12 Maryland natives, including two players from Baltimore, earned a first round bye and will roll into their Wednesday quarterfinal prepped to give 10 — yes 10 — players meaningful action. No Bowie State player averaged more than 25.7 minutes per game this year, with ten averaging at least 14.6.

“Our most successful teams in the past were the ones that didn’t have one dominant person,” head coach Shadae Swan noted, “That’s the luxury of this team…[someone different] may have 20 any given night. Anyone can step up.”

The statement isn’t hyperbole. Baltimore native and redshirt junior Kristin Sterling is one of two returning major contributors, alongside senior guard Mia Smith. Both exemplify the ‘anyone can step up’ mentality in the Bowie State offense. Smith averages 10.4 points per game, which leads the squad, but has dropped 20+ on three occasions, including a 31-point explosion in the regular season finale. Sterling averages under seven points per contest but boasts a season high of 22 points.

Elsewhere on the roster, junior transfer guard Malaka Cobb leads the team in minutes with 25.7 per game and averages 10.1 points per game, but she’s reached her season-high of 27 points twice, including against two-time defending CIAA champion Fayetteville State. Senior Afia Owusu-Mensah, averaging just over eight points per contest, dropped her season-high in the penultimate game of the regular season, pouring in 16 points in a pivotal win over Virginia State that helped Bowie State secure the division and the top seed.

However, the depth goes beyond Bowie’s scoring prowess, which impressively ranks second in the conference despite no individual averaging 11 points or more. In fact, despite the offensive metrics, Swan notes it’s the defensive effort that facilitates her team’s success. “Since day one, we’ve preached to them that our defense will be what drives our offense,” Swan said. That’s led Bowie to a fifth-ranked scoring defense that ranks third in opposing field goal percentage, fourth in turnover margin and steals, and second in blocked shots.

Sterling, Cobb, and Smith all have 40-plus steals, while sophomore Sydney Anthony has 39. Junior forward Jada Bouknight, averaging under 15 minutes per game, is second in the CIAA with 55 blocks. On the boards, Bowie State doesn’t have a double-double machine, ranking middle of the pack in total rebounds. However, it’s a scrappy, full-team effort, with Sterling, Anthony, junior Mayah Garner and sophomore Chaniya Taylor, another Baltimore native, averaging over four rebounds per game.

“For the most part, we’re [10] deep every game,” Swan said. “Whether it’s for foul trouble, offensive or defensive help, we’ll sub to create advantages.”

Swan also noted that her team’s flexibility will allow her to use different lineups against the varied strengths of the other top CIAA contenders.

“Virginia State likes to press and are more guard oriented, Virginia Union doesn’t press and is more post-oriented,” the Bowie State coach said. “Fayetteville presses and has a roster like us where on any given day, anyone could be the leading scorer.”

With a well-balanced roster, Bowie State has the pieces to compete for its first CIAA title since 1999, when the Bulldogs won their third straight. They also enter with an eight-game winning streak that earned them the division championship and a first-round bye. The schedule works favorably for the division champions as they avoid playing Tuesday, play a Wednesday quarterfinal and then get another day off before playing a potential semifinal against a team on a back-to-back.

“Last year, we had to play on Tuesday. Our focus was not falling to the No. 2 seed — they don’t play until Thursday," Swan said. “We knew we needed our final three games to clinch that top seed.”

The Bulldogs won those last three, with wins over Virginia State and Virginia Union to make statements against two of the conference’s top contenders ahead of this week’s tournament.

However, with CIAA week once again upon them, the tournament brings a new variable. With games being held in Baltimore, the Bulldogs face some of that ‘home team’ pressure, a factor that Swan noted her teams have responded to in different ways in past years.

“Every team I’ve had is different,” Swan said. “We could come out really hard because we have the support of everyone behind us, or we could come out stagnant, because we have the pressure and the nerves of being the ‘home’ team. ...This team is just focused on getting everyone to not worry about the crowd and just focus on coaches and teammates and whoever is on the floor.”

As the tournament enters its fifth in-person year in Baltimore, the Bulldogs have yet to claim a championship in either division.

This year’s team might lack the exhilarating brilliance of Ryles, but a deep roster should provide consistency and composure. That’s enough reason to believe the women could snap a 27-year drought on Saturday.